Biggest story of 2025 for Sling TV: launch of new Passes
Biggest story of 2025 for Sling TV: launch of new Passes
It’s hard to overstate just how unique a product Sling’s Passes are in the current streaming landscape.
Sling TV was one of a very small number of streaming services that didn’t raise prices in 2025. That could be foreboding as far as 2026 goes, but for now, Sling customers can enjoy the holidays knowing that they’ve got one of the cheapest services available for watching popular cable networks.
In August 2025, Sling gave consumers an even less expensive way to access its programming: short-term subscription options called Passes that allow viewers to sign up for the service’s Orange plan for $5 per day, $10 for three days, or $15 per week. Passes are a one-of-a-kind offering in the streaming world today, and their launch was the biggest story of 2025 for Sling TV.
There are limitations to Sling TV’s Passes, to be sure. Viewers can only use them to watch Sling’s Orange package, which means the content found in the service’s Blue package can still only be streamed with a monthly subscription at the standard $46 per month rate. But there are a lot of desirable channels in Sling Orange, including live sports options like ESPN and TNT.
Making these channels available for $5 per day is the closest thing any streamer offers to a la carte access to events on these channels. While some sports streaming services offer single-game passes that let viewers watch a team one game at a time, no service other than Sling allows viewers to sign up to watch multiple cable channels for a time period as short as one day.
Programmers are hopping mad about it, too. Both Disney and Warner Bros. Discovery have sued Sling TV over the launch of Passes, saying they were not consulted about the inclusion of their channels in the product, and that Passes violate their existing programming agreements. In November, the judge in the case denied Disney's request to issue a preliminary injunction against Passes, allowing Sling to continue selling them while the lawsuit proceeds.
Other live TV streaming services are innovating in their own way. YouTube TV became the latest streaming service to announce that it would be launching genre-based packages, bringing them to market in 2026. DIRECTV and Fubo have already dropped genre-specific channel plans, but these make for an apples-to-oranges comparison when put aside Sling TV’s Passes.
Whether lawsuits eventually put an end to Sling Passes, it’s hard to argue how bold a step forward they are in offering customers access to cable programming. Their introduction was the biggest story of the year for Sling, a streamer that’s been known to make plenty of splashy headlines in its day.
Sling TV
Sling TV is The Streamable’s choice for cord-cutters on a budget. Sling is a live TV streaming service with multiple channel packages. The $45.99/month Sling Orange plan offers about 30 channels, including Disney Channel and ESPN. The $45.99/month Sling Blue plan offers about 40 channels, including ABC, Fox, and NBC in major markets.
You can combine Orange+Blue for a total of $60.99 / month. Sling also offers many channel add-on packages starting at $6/month.